The soul of the moving picture (1924)

Page scan 00062 from The soul of the moving picture

Record Details:

Title:
The soul of the moving picture
Date:
1924
Publisher:
New York : E. P. Dutton & Company
Volume:
The soul of the moving picture
Leaf #:
00062
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
August 22, 2024
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28 The Soul of the Moving Picture to understand it. But a clear, clean primness, one that is just as alien to any imitation of everyday speech as it is to the striving after original, poetic effect, should characterize the style of the text that accompanies the picture. How could we best define a really adequate motion picture text? By saying that it is a lump of ice in which there is a glowing coal. "Night — " This is obviously the artistic sense of the style we are considering: we are endeavoring to make it possible for the actor to indulge in an unhampered and unhindered mimicry that is poles removed from the gymnastics of the pantomime. Carl Hauptmann said once upon a time : "That will always be a poor motion picture in which a violent effort is made through the overworking of gestures to express an idea which in reality can be expressed only through the medium of words. That, too, will always be regarded as a benevolent inter-pictorial text which holds up to the mind of the spectator, suddenly and without warning, certain necessary words the mission of which will be to impart roundness, fullness, and ultimate clarity to the mental content of the pictures that have been passing before our vision." The compass of the motion picture were far too limited to merit serious and universal study if the materials that are used by it were confined